CHAPTER I

1 The earth has trembled and the heavens have wept because of
a great crime which has been committed in the land of Israel.

2 For they have tortured and there put to death the great and
just Issa, in whom dwelt the soul of the universe,

3 Which was incarnate in a simple mortal in order to do good to
men and to exterminate their evil thoughts

4 And in order to bring back man degraded by his sins to a life
of peace, love, and happiness and to recall to him the one and
indivisible Creator, whose mercy is infinite and without bounds.

5 Hear what the merchants from Israel relate to us on this subject.

CHAPTER II

1 The people of Israel, who dwelt on a fertile soil giving forth
two crops a year and who possessed large flocks, excited by their
sins the anger of God

2 Who inflicted upon them a terrible chastisement in taking from
them their land, their cattle, and their possessions. Israel was
reduced to slavery by the powerful and rich pharaohs who then
reigned in Egypt.

3 These treated the Israelites worse than animals, burdening them
with difficult tasks and loading them with chains. They covered
their bodies with weals and wounds, without giving them food or
permitting them to dwell beneath a roof,

4 To keep them in a state of continual terror and to deprive them
of all human resemblance.

5 And in their great calamity, the people of Israel remembered
their heavenly protector and, addressing themselves to him, implored
his grace and mercy.

6 An illustrious pharaoh then reigned in Egypt who had rendered
himself famous by his numerous victories, the riches he had heaped
up, and the vast palaces which his slaves had erected for him
with their own hands.

7 This pharaoh had two sons, of whom the younger was called Mossa.
Learned Israelites taught him diverse sciences.

8 And they loved Mossa in Egypt for his goodness and the compassion
which he showed to all those who suffered.

9 Seeing that the Israelites would not, in spite of the intolerable
sufferings they were enduring, abandon their God to worship those
made by the hand of man, which were gods of the Egyptian nation,

10 Mossa believed in their invisible God, who did not let their
failing strength give way.

11 And the Israelitish preceptors excited the ardor of Mossa and
had recourse to him, praying him to intercede with the pharaoh
his father in favor of their co-religionists.

12 Wherefore the Prince Mossa went to his father, begging him
to ameliorate the fate of these unfortunates. But the pharaoh
became angered against him and only augmented the torments endured
by his slaves.

13 It happened that a short time after, a great evil visited Egypt.
The pestilence came to decimate there both the young and the old,
the weak and the strong; and the pharaoh believed in the resentment
of his own gods against him.

14 But the Prince Mossa told his father that it was the God of
his slaves who was interceding in favor of these unfortunates
in punishing the Egyptians.

15 The pharaoh then gave to Mossa his son an order to take all
the slaves of the Jewish race, to conduct them outside the town,
and to found at a great distance from the capital another city
where he should dwell with them.

16 Mossa then made known to the Hebrew slaves that he had set
them free in the name of their God, the God of Israel, and he
went out with them from the city and from the land of Egypt.

17 He led them into the land they had lost by their many sins,
he gave unto them laws, and enjoined them to pray always to the
invisible Creator whose goodness is infinite.

18 On the death of Prince Mossa, the Israelites rigorously observed
his laws, wherefore God recompensed them for the ills to which
he had exposed them in Egypt.

19 Their kingdom became the most powerful of all the earth, their
kings made themselves famous for their treasures, and a long peace
reigned among the people of Israel.

CHAPTER III

1 The glory of the riches of Israel spread throughout the earth,
and the neighboring nations bore them envy.

2 For the Most High himself led the victorious arms of the Hebrews,
and the pagans dared not attack them.

3 Unhappily, as man is not always true to himself, the fidelity
of the Israelites to their God did not last long.

4 They began by forgetting all the favors which he had heaped
upon them, invoked but seldom his name, and sought the protection
of magicians and sorcerers.

5 The kings and the captains substituted their own laws for those
which Mossa had written down for them. The temple of God and the
practice of worship were abandoned. The people gave themselves
up to pleasure and lost their original purity.

6 Several centuries had elapsed since their departure from Egypt
when God determined to exercise once more his chastisements upon
them.

7 Strangers began to invade the land of Israel, devastating the
country, ruining the villages, and carrying the inhabitants into
captivity.

8 And there came at one time pagans from the country of Romeles,
on the other side of the sea. They subdued the Hebrews and established
among them military leaders who by delegation from Caesar ruled
over them.

9 They destroyed the temples, they forced the inhabitants to cease
worshipping the invisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice
victims to the pagan deities.

10 They made warriors of those who had been nobles, the women
were torn away from their husbands, and the lower classes, reduced
to slavery, were sent by thousands beyond the seas.

11 As to the children, they were put to the sword. Soon in all
the land of Israel naught was heard but groans and lamentations.

12 In this extreme distress, the people remembered their great
God. They implored his grace and besought him to forgive them;
and our Father, in his inexhaustible mercy, heard their prayer.

CHAPTER IV

1 At this time came the moment when the all-merciful Judge elected
to become incarnate in a human being.

2 And the Eternal Spirit, dwelling in a state of complete inaction
and of supreme beatitude, awoke and detached itself for an indefinite
period from the Eternal Being,

3 So as to show forth in the guise of humanity the means of self-identification
with Divinity and of attaining to eternal felicity,

4 And to demonstrate by example how man may attain moral purity
and, by separating his soul from its mortal coil, the degree of
perfection necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven, which
is unchangeable and where happiness reigns eternal.

5 Soon after, a marvelous child was born in the land of Israel,
God himself speaking by the mouth of this infant of the frailty
of the body and the grandeur of the soul.

6 The parents of the newborn child were poor people, belonging
by birth to a family of noted piety, who, forgetting their ancient
grandeur on earth, praised the name of the Creator and thanked
him for the ills with which he saw fit to prove them.

7 To reward them for not turning aside from the way of truth,
God blessed the firstborn of this family. He chose him for his
elect and sent him to help those who had fallen into evil and
to cure those who suffered.

8 The divine child, to whom was given the name of Issa, began
from his earliest years to speak of the one and indivisible God,
exhorting the souls of those gone astray to repentance and the
purification of the sins of which they were culpable.

9 People came from all parts to hear him, and they marveled at
the discourses proceeding from his childish mouth. All the Israelites
were of one accord in saying that the Eternal Spirit dwelt in
this child.

10 When Issa had attained the age of thirteen years, the epoch
when an Israelite should take a wife,

11 The house where his parents earned their living by carrying
on a modest trade began to be a place of meeting for rich and
noble people, desirous of having for a son-in-law the young Issa,
already famous for his edifying discourses in the name of the
Almighty.

12 Then it was that Issa left the parental house in secret, departed
from Jerusalem, and with the merchants set out towards Sind,

13 With the object of perfecting himself in the Divine Word and
of studying the laws of the great Buddhas.

CHAPTER V

1 In the course of his fourteenth year, the young Issa, blessed
of God, came on this side of Sind and established himself among
the Aryas in the land beloved of God.

2 Fame spread the reputation of this marvelous child throughout
the length of northern Sind, and when he crossed the country of
the five rivers and the Rajputana, the devotees of the god Jaine
prayed him to dwell among them.

3 But he left the erring worshippers of Jaine and went to Juggernaut
in the country of Orissa, where repose the mortal remains of Vyasa-Krishna
and where the white priests of Brahma made him a Joyous welcome.

4 They taught him to read and understand the Vedas, to cure by
aid of prayer, to teach, to explain the holy scriptures to the
people, and to drive out evil spirits from the bodies of men,
restoring unto them their sanity.

5 He passed six years at Juggernaut, at Rajagriha, at Benares,
and in the other holy cities. Everyone loved him, for Issa lived
in peace with the Vaisyas and the Sudras, whom he instructed in
the holy scriptures.

6 But the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas told him that they were
forbidden by the great Para-Brahma to come near to those whom
he had created from his side and his feet;

7 That the Vaisyas were only authorized to hear the reading of
the Vedas, and this on festival days only;

8 That the Sudras were forbidden not only to assist at the reading
of the Vedas, but also from contemplating them, for their condition
was to serve in perpetuity as slaves to the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas,
and even the Vaisyas.

9 "'Death only can set them free from their servitude' has
said Para-Brahma. Leave them then and come and worship with us
the gods, who will become incensed against thee if thou cost disobey
them."

10 But Issa listened not to their discourses and betook him to
the Sudras, preaching against the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas.

11 He inveighed against the act of a man arrogating to himself
the power to deprive his fellow beings of their rights of humanity;
"for," said he, "God the Father makes no difference
between his children; all to him are equally dear."

12 Issa denied the divine origin of the Vedas* and the Puranas.
"For," taught he to his followers, "a law has already
been given to man to guide him in his actions;

13 "Fear thy God, bend the knee before him only, and bring
to him alone the offerings which proceed from thy gains."

14 Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma
in Vishnu, Siva, and other gods, for said he:

15 "The Judge Eternal, the Eternal Spirit, comprehends the
one and indivisible soul of the universe, which alone creates,
contains, and vivifies all. *Inasmuch as Jesus' closest disciple,
John, begins his Gospel with a quote from the Vedas, "In
the beginning was the Word . . . ," the authenticity of this
passage may be questioned. See p. 393 for discussion.

16 "He alone has willed and created, he alone has existed
since all eternity, and his existence will have no end. He has
no equal either in the heavens or on earth.

17 "The Great Creator has not shared his power with any living
being, still less with inanimate objects, as they have taught
to you; for he alone possesses omnipotence.

18 "He willed it and the world appeared. In a divine thought,
he gathered together the waters, separating from them the dry
portion of the globe. He is the principle of the mysterious existence
of man, in whom he has breathed a part of his Being.

19 "And he has subordinated to man the earth, the waters,
the beasts, and all that he has created and that he himself preserves
in immutable order, fixing for each thing the length of its duration.

20 "The anger of God will soon be let loose against man;
for he has forgotten his Creator, he has filled his temples with
abominations, and he worships a crowd of creatures which God has
made subordinate to him.

21 "For to do honor to stones and metals, he sacrifices human
beings, in whom dwells a part of the spirit of the Most High.

22 "For he humiliates those who work by the sweat of their
brow to acquire the favor of an idler seated at his sumptuous
board.

23 "Those who deprive their brethren of divine happiness
shall be deprived of it themselves. The Brahmans and the Kshatriyas
shall become the Sudras, and with the Sudras the Eternal shall
dwell everlastingly.

24 "Because in the day of the last judgment the Sudras and
the Vaisyas will be forgiven much because of their ignorance,
while God, on the contrary, will punish with his wrath those who
have arrogated to themselves his rights."

25 The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration
and asked Issa how they should pray so as not to lose their eternal
felicity.

26 "Worship not the idols, for they hear you not. Listen
not to the Vedas, for their truth is counterfeit. Never put yourself
in the first place and never humiliate your neighbor.

27 "Help the poor, support the weak, do ill to no one, and
covet not that which thou hast not and which thou seest belongeth
to another."

CHAPTER VI

1 The white priests and the warriors, becoming acquainted with
the discourses of Issa addressed to the Sudras, resolved upon
his death and sent with this intent their servants to seek out
the young prophet.

2 But Issa, warned of his danger by the Sudras, left the neighborhood
of Juggernaut by night, reached the mountain, and established
himself in the country of Gautamides, the birthplace of the great
Buddha Sakyamuni, in the midst of a people worshipping the one
and sublime Brahma.

3 After having perfected himself in the Pali language, the just
Issa applied himself to the study of the sacred writings of the
Sutras.

4 Six years after, Issa, whom the Buddha had elected to spread
his holy word, had become a perfect expositor of the sacred writings.

5 Then he left Nepal and the Himalayan mountains, descended into
the valley of Rajputana, and went towards the west, preaching
to diverse peoples the supreme perfection of man,

6 Which is-to do good to one's neighbor, being the sure means
of merging oneself rapidly in the Eternal Spirit: "He who
shall have regained his original purity," said Issa, "will
die having obtained remission for his sins, and he will have the
right to contemplate the majesty of God."

7 In crossing pagan territories, the divine Issa taught that the
worship of visible gods was contrary to the law of nature.

8 "For man," said he, "has not been permitted to
see the image of God, and yet he has made a host of deities in
the likeness of the Eternal.

9 "Moreover, it is incompatible with the human conscience
to make less matter of the grandeur of divine purity than of animals
and objects executed by the hand of man in stone or metal.

10 "The Eternal Lawgiver is one; there is no other God but
he. He has not shared the world with anyone, neither has he informed
anyone of his intentions.

11 "Even as a father would act towards his children, so will
God judge men after their deaths according to the laws of his
mercy. Never would he so humiliate his child as to transmigrate
his soul, as in a purgatory, into the body of an animal."

12 "The heavenly law," said the Creator by the mouth
of Issa, "is opposed to the immolation of human sacrifices
to an image or to an animal; for I have consecrated to man all
the animals and all that the earth contains.

13 "All things have been sacrificed to man, who is directly
and intimately associated with me his Father; therefore he who
shall have stolen from me my child will be severely judged and
chastised by the divine law.

14 "Man is naught before the Eternal Judge, as the animal
is naught before man.

15 "Wherefore I say unto you, Leave your idols and perform
not rites which separate you from your Father, associating you
with the priests from whom the heavens have turned away.

16 "For it is they who have led you from the true God and
whose superstitions and cruelties conduce to the perversion of
your soul and the loss of all moral sense."

CHAPTER VII

1 The words of Issa spread among the pagans in the midst of the
countries he traversed, and the inhabitants forsook their idols.

2 Seeing which the priests exacted of him who glorified the name
of the true God, reason in the presence of the people for the
reproaches he made against them and a demonstration of the nothingness
of their idols.

3 And Issa made answer to them: "If your idols and your animals
are powerful and really possessed of supernatural strength, then
let them strike me to the earth."

4 "Work then a miracle," replied the priests, "and
let thy God confound our gods, if they inspire him with contempt."

5 But Issa then said: "The miracles of our God have been
worked since the first day when the universe was created; they
take place every day and at every moment. Whosoever seeth them
not is deprived of one of the fairest gifts of life.

6 "And it is not against pieces of stone, metal, or wood,
which are inanimate, that the anger of God will have full course;
but it will fall on men, who, if they desire their salvation,
must destroy all the idols they have made.

7 "Even as a stone and a grain of sand, naught as they are
in the sight of man, wait patiently the moment when he shall take
and make use of them,

8 "So man must await the great favor that God shall accord
him in his final judgment.

9 "But woe unto you, ye enemies of men, if it be not a favor
that you await but rather the wrath of the Divinity-woe unto you
if ye expect miracles to bear witness to his power.

10 "For it will not be the idols that he will annihilate
in his anger but those who shall have erected them. Their hearts
shall be consumed with eternal fire, and their lacerated bodies
shall go to satiate the hunger of wild beasts.

11 "God will drive the impure from among his flocks, but
he will take back to himself those who shall have gone astray
through not having recognized the portion of spirituality within
them."

12 Seeing the powerlessness of their priests, the pagans had still
greater faith in the sayings of Issa and, fearing the anger of
the Divinity, broke their idols to pieces. As for the priests,
they fled to escape the vengeance of the populace.

13 And Issa further taught the pagans not to strive to see the
Eternal Spirit with their eyes but to endeavor to feel him in
their hearts and by purity of soul to render themselves worthy
of his favors.

14 "Not only," said he unto them, "abstain from
consuming human sacrifices, but immolate no creature to whom life
has been given, for all things that exist have been created for
the profit of man.

15 "Do not steal the goods of your neighbor, for that would
be to deprive him of what he has acquired by the sweat of his
brow.

16 "Deceive no one, so as not to be yourselves deceived.
Endeavor to justify yourself before the last judgment, for then
it will be too late.

17 "Do not give yourselves up to debauchery, for that would
be to violate the laws of God.

18 "You shall attain to supreme happiness, not only in purifying
yourselves, but also in guiding others in the way that shall permit
them to gain original perfection."

CHAPTER VIII

1 The neighboring countries resounded with the prophecies of Issa,
and when he entered into Persia the priests became alarmed and
forbade the inhabitants to listen to him.

2 And when they saw all the villages welcoming him with joy and
listening devoutly to his sermons, they gave orders to arrest
him and had him brought before the high priest, where he underwent
the following interrogation:

3 "Of what new God cost thou speak? Art thou not aware, unhappy
man, that Saint Zoroaster is the only just one admitted to the
privilege of communion with the Supreme Being,

4 "Who ordered the angels to put down in writing the word
of God for the use of his people, laws that were given to Zoroaster
in paradise?

5 "Who then art thou to dare here to blaspheme our God and
to sow doubt in the hearts of believers?"

6 And Issa said unto them: "It is not of a new God that I
speak but of our Heavenly Father, who has existed since all time
and who will still be after the end of all things.

7 "It is of him that I have discoursed to the people, who,
like unto innocent children, are not yet capable of comprehending
God by the simple strength of their intelligence or of penetrating
into his divine and spiritual sublimity.

8 "But even as a babe discovers in the darkness its mother's
breast, so even your people, who have been led into error by your
erroneous doctrine and your religious ceremonies, have recognized
by instinct their Father in the Father of whom I am the prophet.

9 "The Eternal Being has said to your people through the
medium of my mouth: 'You shall not worship the sun, for it is
but a part of the world which I have created for man.

10 "'The sun rises in order to warm you during your work;
it sets to allow you the repose which I myself have appointed.

11 "'It is to me, and to me alone, that you owe all that
you possess, all that is to be found about you, above you, and
below you."'

12 "But," said the priests, "how could a people
live according to the rules of justice if it had no preceptors?"

13 Then Issa answered, "So long as the people had no priests,
the natural law governed them, and they preserved the candor of
their souls.

14 "Their souls were with God, and to commune with the Father
they had recourse to the medium of no idol or animal, nor to the
fire, as is practiced here.

15 "You contend that one must worship the sun, the spirit
of good and of evil. Well, I say unto you, your doctrine is a
false one, the sun acting not spontaneously but according to the
will of the invisible Creator who gave it birth

16 "And who has willed it to be the star that should light
the day, to warm the labor and the seedtime of man.

17 "The Eternal Spirit is the soul of all that is animate.
You commit a great sin in dividing it into a spirit of evil and
a spirit of good, for there is no God outside the good,

18 "Who, like unto the father of a family, does but good
to his children, forgiving all their faults if they repent them.

19 "The spirit of evil dwells on the earth in the hearts
of those men who turn aside the children of God from the strait
path.

20 "Wherefore I say unto you, Beware of the day of judgment,
for God will inflict a terrible chastisement upon all those who
shall have led his children astray from the right path and have
filled them with superstitions and prejudices;

21 "Those who have blinded them that see, conveyed contagion
to the healthy, and taught the worship of the things that God
has subordinated to man for his good and to aid him in his work.

22 "Your doctrine is therefore the fruit of your errors;
for desiring to bring near to you the God of truth, you have created
for yourselves false gods."

23 After having listened to him, the magi determined to do him
no harm. But at night, when all the town lay sleeping, they conducted
him outside of the walls and abandoned him on the high road, in
the hope that he would soon become a prey to the wild beasts.

24 But, protected by the Lord our God, Saint Issa continued his
way unmolested.

CHAPTER IX

1 Issa, whom the Creator had elected to remind a depraved humanity
of the true God, had reached his twenty-ninth year when he returned
to the land of Israel.

2 Since his departure the pagans had inflicted still more atrocious
sufferings on the Israelites, who were a prey to the deepest despondency.

3 Many among them had already begun to abandon the laws of their
God and those of Mossa in the hope of appeasing their savage conquerors.

4 In the face of this evil, Issa exhorted his compatriots not
to despair because the day of the redemption of sins was at hand,
and he confirmed them in the belief which they had in the God
of their fathers.

5 "Children, do not give yourselves up to despair,"
said the Heavenly Father by the mouth of Issa, "for I have
heard your voice, and your cries have reached me.

6 "Do not weep, O my beloved ones! For your grief has touched
the heart of your Father, and he has forgiven you, even as he
forgave your forefathers.

7 "Do not abandon your families to plunge yourselves into
debauchery, do not lose the nobility of your feelings, and do
not worship idols who will remain deaf to your voices.

8 "Fill my temple with your hope and with your patience and
abjure not the religion of your fathers; for I alone have guided
them and have heaped them with benefits.

9 "You shall lift up those who have fallen, you shall give
food to the hungry, and you shall come to the aid of the sick,
so as to be all pure and just at the day of the last judgment
which I prepare for you."

10 The Israelites came in crowds at the word of Issa, asking him
where they should praise the Heavenly Father, seeing that the
enemy had razed their temples to the ground and laid low their
sacred vessels.

11 And Issa made answer to them that God had not in view temples
erected by the hands of man, but he meant that the human heart
was the true temple of God.

12 "Enter into your temple, into your heart. Illumine it
with good thoughts and the patience and immovable confidence which
you should have in your Father.

13 "And your sacred vessels, they are your hands and your
eyes. See and do that which is agreeable to God, for in doing
good to your neighbor you accomplish a rite which embellishes
the temple wherein dwells he who gave you life.

14 "For God has created you in his own likeness-innocent,
with pure souls and hearts filled with goodness, destined not
for the conception of evil schemes but made to be sanctuaries
of love and justice.

16 "If you wish to accomplish works marked with love or piety,
do them with an open heart and let not your actions be governed
by calculations or the hope of gain.

17 "For such actions would not help to your salvation, and
you would fall into that state of moral degradation where theft,
lying, and murder pass for generous deeds."

CHAPTER X

1 Saint Issa went from one town to another, strengthening by the
word of God the courage of the Israelites, who were ready to succumb
to the weight of their despair; and thousands of men followed
him to hear him preach.

2 But the chiefs of the towns became afraid of him, and they made
known to the principal governor who dwelt at Jerusalem that a
man named Issa had arrived in the country; that he was stirring
up by his discourses the people against the authorities; that
the crowd listened to him with assiduity, neglected the works
of the state, and affirmed that before long it would be rid of
its intrusive governors.

3 Then Pilate, governor of Jerusalem, ordered that they should
seize the person of the preacher Issa, that they should bring
him into the town and lead him before the judges. But in order
not to excite the anger of the populace, Pilate charged the priests
and the learned Hebrew elders to judge him in the temple.

4 Meanwhile Issa, continuing his preachings, arrived at Jerusalem;
and, having learnt of his arrival, all the inhabitants, knowing
him already by reputation, went out to meet him.

5 They greeted him respectfully and opened to him the gates of
their temple in order to hear from his mouth what he had said
in the other cities of Israel.

6 And Issa said unto them: "The human race perishes because
of its lack of faith, for the darkness and the tempest have scattered
the flocks of humanity and they have lost their shepherds.

7 "But the tempest will not last forever, and the darkness
will not always obscure the light. The sky will become once more
serene, the heavenly light will spread itself over the earth,
and the flocks gone astray will gather around their shepherd.

8 "Do not strive to find straight paths in the darkness,
lest ye fall into a pit; but gather together your remaining strength,
support one another, place your confidence in your God, and wait
till light appears.

9 "He who sustains his neighbor, sustains himself; and whosoever
protects his family, protects the people and the state.

10 "For be sure that the day is at hand when you shall be
delivered from the darkness; you shall be gathered together as
one family; and your enemy, who ignores what the favor of God
is, shall tremble with fear."

11 The priests and the elders who were listening to him, filled
with admiration at his discourse, asked him if it were true that
he had tried to stir up the people against the authorities of
the country, as had been reported to the governor Pilate.

12 "Can one excite to insurrection men gone astray, from
whom the obscurity has hidden their door and their path?"
replied Issa. "I have only warned the unfortunate, as I do
here in this temple, that they may not further advance along the
darkened way, for an abyss is open under their feet.

13 "Earthly power is not of long duration, and it is subject
to many changes. Of what use that man should revolt against it,
seeing that one power always succeeds to another power? And thus
it will come to pass until the extinction of humanity.

14 "Against which, see you not that the mighty and the rich
sow among the sons of Israel a spirit of rebellion against the
eternal power of heaven?"

15 The elders then asked: "Who art thou, and from what country
cost thou come? We have not heard speak of thee before, and we
know not even thy name."

16 "I am an Israelite," replied Issa. "From the
day of my birth I saw the walls of Jerusalem, and I heard the
weeping of my brothers reduced to slavery and the lamentations
of my sisters who were carried away by the pagans.

17 "And my soul was filled with sadness when I saw that my
brethren had forgotten the true God. As a child, I left my father's
house and went to dwell among other peoples.

18 "But having heard that my brethren were suffering still
greater tortures, I have come back to the country where my parents
dwell to remind my brothers of the faith of their forefathers,
which teaches us patience on earth to obtain perfect and sublime
happiness in heaven."

19 And the learned elders put him this question: "It is said
that thou deniest the laws of Mossa and that thou teaches"
the people to forsake the temple of God?"

20 And Issa replied: "One cannot demolish that which has
been given by our Heavenly Father, neither that which has been
destroyed by sinners; but I have enjoined the purification of
the heart from all blemish, for it is the true temple of God.

21 "As to the laws of Mossa, I have endeavored to establish
them in the hearts of men. And I say unto you that you do not
understand their real meaning, for it is not vengeance but mercy
that they teach; only the sense of these laws has been perverted."

CHAPTER XI

1 Having hearkened unto Issa, the priests and the wise elders
decided among themselves not to judge him, for he did harm to
no one. And presenting themselves before Pilate, appointed governor
of Jerusalem by the pagan king of the country of Romeles, they
addressed him thus:

2 "We have seen the man whom thou accusest of inciting our
people to rebellion; we have heard his discourses, and we know
him to be our compatriot.

3 "But the chiefs of the cities have made thee false reports,
for this is a just man who teaches the people the word of God.
After having interrogated him, we dismissed him, that he might
go in peace."

4 The governor then became enraged and sent near to Issa his servants
in disguise, so that they might watch all his actions and report
to the authorities the least word that he should address to the
people.

5 In the meantime, Saint Issa continued to visit the neighboring
towns, preaching the true ways of the Creator, exhorting the Hebrews
to patience, and promising them a speedy deliverance.

6 And during all this time, many people followed him wherever
he went, several never leaving him but becoming his servitors.

7 And Issa said: "Do not believe in miracles wrought by the
hand of man, for he who dominates over nature is alone capable
of doing that which is supernatural, whilst man is powerless to
stay the anger of the winds or to spread the rain.

8 "Nevertheless, there is one miracle which it is possible
for man to accomplish. It is when, full of a sincere belief, he
decides to root out from his heart all evil thoughts, and when
to attain his end he forsakes the paths of iniquity.

9 "And all the things that are done without God are but errors,
seductions, and enchantments, which only demonstrate to what an
extent the soul of him who practices this art is full of shamelessness,
falsehood, and impurity.

10 "Put not your faith in oracles; God alone knows the future:
he who has recourse to diviners profanes the temple which is in
his heart and gives a proof of distrust towards his Creator.

11 "Faith in diviners and in their oracles destroys the innate
simplicity of man and his childlike purity. An infernal power
takes possession of him, forcing him to commit all sorts of crimes
and to worship idols;

12 "Whereas the Lord our God, who has no equal, is one, all-mighty,
omniscient, and omnipresent. It is he who possesses all wisdom
and all light.

13 "It is to him you must address yourselves to be consoled
in your sorrows, helped in your works, and cured in your sickness.
Whosoever shall have recourse to him shall not be denied.

14 "The secret of nature is in the hands of God. For the
world, before it appeared, existed in the depth of the divine
thought; it became material and visible by the will of the Most
High.

15 "When you address yourselves to him, become again as children;
for you know neither the past, the present, nor the future, and
God is the Master of all time."

CHAPTER XII

1 "Righteous man," said unto him the spies of the governor
of Jerusalem, "tell us if we shall perform the will of our
Caesar or await our speedy deliverance. "

2 And Issa, having recognized them as people appointed to follow
him, replied: "I have not said to you that you shall be delivered
from Caesar. It is the soul plunged in error that shall have its
deliverance.

3 "As there can be no family without a head, so there can
be no order among a people without a Caesar; to him implicit obedience
should be given, he alone being answerable for his acts before
the supreme tribunal."

4 "Does Caesar possess a divine right?" further asked
of him the spies. "And is he the best of mortals?"

5 "There should be no better among men, but there are also
sufferers, whom those elected and charged with this mission should
care for, making use of the means conferred on them by the sacred
law of our Heavenly Father.

6 "Mercy and justice are the highest attributes of a Caesar;
his name will be illustrious if he adhere to them.

7 "But he who acts otherwise, who exceeds the limit of power
that he has over his subordinates, going so far as to put their
lives in danger, offends the great Judge and loses his dignity
in the sight of man."

8 At this juncture, an old woman who had approached the group,
the better to hear Issa, was pushed aside by one of the spies,
who placed himself before her.

9 Then Issa held forth: "It is not meet that a son should
set aside his mother, taking her place. Whosoever respecteth not
his mother, the most sacred being after his God, is unworthy of
the name of son.

10 "Listen, then, to what I say unto you: Respect woman,
for she is the mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine
creation lies in her.

11 "She is the basis of all that is good and beautiful, as
she is also the germ of life and death. On her depends the whole
existence of man, for she is his natural and moral support.

12 "She gives birth to you in the midst of suffering. By
the sweat of her brow she rears you, and until her death you cause
her the gravest anxieties. Bless her and worship her, for she
is your one friend, your one support on earth.

13 "Respect her, uphold her. In acting thus you will win
her love and her heart. You will find favor in the sight of God
and many sins shall be forgiven you.

14 "In the same way, love your wives and respect them; for
they will be mothers tomorrow, and each later on the ancestress
of a race.

15 "Be lenient towards woman. Her love ennobles man, softens
his hardened heart, tames the brute in him, and makes of him a
lamb.

16 "The wife and the mother are the inappreciable treasures
given unto you by God. They are the fairest ornaments of existence,
and of them shall be born all the inhabitants of the world.

17 "Even as the God of armies separated of old the light
from the darkness and the land from the waters, woman possesses
the divine faculty of separating in a man good intentions from
evil thoughts.

18 "Wherefore I say unto you, after God your best thoughts
should belong to the women and the wives, woman being for you
the temple wherein you will obtain the most easily perfect happiness.

19 "Imbue yourselves in this temple with moral strength.
Here you will forget your sorrows and your failures, and you will
recover the lost energy necessary to enable you to help your neighbor.

20 "Do not expose her to humiliation. In acting thus you
would humiliate yourselves and lose the sentiment of love, without
which nothing exists here below.

21 "Protect your wife, in order that she may protect you
and all your family. All that you do for your wife, your mother,
for a widow or another woman in distress, you will have done unto
your God."

CHAPTER XIII

1 Saint Issa taught the people of Israel thus for three years,
in every town, in every village, by the waysides and on the plains;
and all that he had predicted came to pass.

2 During all this time the disguised servants of Pilate watched
him closely without hearing anything said like unto the reports
made against Issa in former years by the chiefs of the towns.

3 But the governor Pilate, becoming alarmed at the too great popularity
of Saint Issa, who according to his adversaries sought to stir
up the people to proclaim him king, ordered one of his spies to
accuse him.

4 Then soldiers were commanded to proceed to his arrest, and they
imprisoned him in a subterranean cell where they tortured him
in various ways in the hope of forcing him to make a confession
which should permit of his being put to death.

5 The saint, thinking only of the perfect beatitude of his brethren,
supported all his sufferings in the name of his Creator.

6 The servants of Pilate continued to torture him and reduced
him to a state of extreme weakness; but God was with him and did
not allow him to die.

7 Learning of the sufferings and the tortures which their saint
was enduring, the high priests and the wise elders went to pray
the governor to set Issa at liberty in honor of an approaching
festival.

8 But the governor straightway refused them this. They then prayed
him to allow Issa to appear before the tribunal of the ancients
so that he might be condemned or acquitted before the festival,
and to this Pilate consented.

9 The next day the governor assembled together the chief captains,
priests, wise elders, and lawyers so that they might judge Issa.

10 They brought him from his prison and seated him before the
governor between two thieves to be judged at the same time as
he, in order to show unto the crowd that he was not the only one
to be condemned.

11 And Pilate, addressing himself to Issa, said unto him: "O
man! is it true that thou incites" the people against the
authorities with the intent of thyself becoming king of Israel?"

12 "One becomes not king at one's own will," replied
Issa, "and they have lied who have told thee that I stir
up the people to rebellion. I have never spoken of other than
the King of Heaven, and it is he I teach the people to worship.

13 "For the sons of Israel have lost their original purity;
and if they have not recourse to the true God, they will be sacrificed
and their temple shall fall into ruins.

14 "As temporal power maintains order in a country, I teach
them accordingly not to forget it. I say unto them: 'Live conformably
to your station and your fortune, so as not to disturb the public
order.' And I have exhorted them also to remember that disorder
reigns in their hearts and in their minds.

15 "Wherefore the King of Heaven has punished them and suppressed
their national kings. Nevertheless, I have said unto them, 'If
you become resigned to your destinies, as a reward the kingdom
of heaven shall be reserved for you."'

16 At this moment, the witnesses were brought forward, one of
whom made the following deposition: "Thou hast said to the
people that the temporal power is as naught against that of the
king who shall soon deliver the Israelites from the pagan yoke."

17 "Blessed art thou," said Issa, "for having spoken
the truth. The King of Heaven is greater and more powerful than
the terrestrial law, and his kingdom surpasses all the kingdoms
of the earth.

18 "And the time is not far off when, conforming to the divine
will, the people of Israel shall purify them of their sins; for
it has been said that a forerunner will come to proclaim the deliverance
of the people, gathering them into one fold."

19 And the governor, addressing himself to the judges, said: "Doss
hear? The Israelite Issa confesses to the crime of which he is
accused. Judge him, then, according to your laws, and pronounce
against him capital punishment."

20 "We cannot condemn him," replied the priests and
the elders. "Thou hast just heard thyself that his allusions
were made regarding the King of Heaven and that he has preached
naught to the sons of Israel which could constitute an offense
against the law."

21 The governor Pilate then sent for the witness who, at his instigation,
had betrayed Issa. The man came and addressed Issa thus: "Didst
thou not pass thyself off as the king of Israel when thou saddest
that he who reigns in the heavens had sent thee to prepare his
people?"

22 And Issa, having blessed him, said: "Thou shalt be pardoned,
for what thou sayest does not come from thee!" Then, addressing
himself to the governor: "Why humiliate thy dignity, and
why teach thy inferiors to live in falsehood, as without doing
so thou hast power to condemn the innocent?"

23 At these words the governor became exceeding wroth, ordering
the sentence of death to be passed upon Issa and the acquittal
of the two thieves.

24 The judges, having consulted together, said unto Pilate: "We
will not take upon our heads the great sin of condemning an innocent
man and acquitting thieves. That would be against the law.

25 "Do then as thou wilt." Saying which the priests
and the wise elders went out and washed their hands in a sacred
vessel, saying: "We are innocent of the death of this just
man."

CHAPTER XIV

1 By the order of the governor, the soldiers then seized Issa
and the two thieves, whom they led to the place of execution,
where they nailed them to crosses erected on the ground.

2 All the day the bodies of Issa and the two thieves remained
suspended, terrible to behold, under the guard of the soldiers;
the people standing all around, the relations of the sufferers
praying and weeping.

3 At sunset the sufferings of Issa came to an end. He lost consciousness,
and the soul of this just man left his body to become absorbed
in the Divinity.

4 Thus ended the earthly existence of the reflection of the Eternal
Spirit under the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners
and endured many sufferings.

5 Meanwhile, Pilate became afraid of his action and gave the body
of the saint to his parents, who buried it near the spot of his
execution. The crowd came to pray over his tomb, and the air was
filled with groans and lamentations.

6 Three days after, the governor sent his soldiers to carry away
the body of Issa to bury it elsewhere, fearing otherwise a popular
insurrection.

7 The next day the crowd found the tomb open and empty. At once
the rumor spread that the supreme Judge had sent his angels to
carry away the mortal remains of the saint in whom dwelt on earth
a part of the Divine Spirit.

8 When this rumor reached the knowledge of Pilate, he became angered
and forbade anyone, under the pain of slavery and death, to pronounce
the name of Issa or to pray the Lord for him.

9 But the people continued to weep and to glorify aloud their
Master; wherefore many were led into captivity, subjected to torture,
and put to death.

10 And the disciples of Saint Issa abandoned the land of Israel
and scattered themselves among the heathen, preaching that they
should renounce their errors, bethink them of the salvation of
their souls and of the perfect felicity awaiting humanity in that
immaterial world of light where, in repose and in all his purity,
the Great Creator dwells in perfect majesty.

11 The pagans, their kings, and their warriors listened to the
preachers, abandoned their absurd beliefs, and forsook their priests
and their idols to celebrate the praise of the all-wise Creator
of the universe, the King of kings, whose heart is filled with
infinite mercy.